Thread: How to hunt from fresh deer poop?

I was trying my luck the other day in the forest and bumped into fresh deer poop. This was my first encounter of fresh deer signs and I was so excited. I then tried to look for footprints to see which direction the deer went. From the one print I was able to see I followed the trail which then lead to 3 different trails/directions. The bush was thick and dry so with every step I take I made a lot of noise. All 3 trails went to dead end or to an even thicker bush. Am I doing the right thing? or should I just waited at the spot? I did waited for about 15 min but I can only see about 15m ahead of me. What should I have done instead?

Cheers

@Alex_Z i just mentioned you in another post have a read might be of some help. that deer caught have past through 30mins before you did hard to tell. i would have carried on stalking wind in my face slowly, the video in the other post might help. I don't wait around for hours but that's just me.

well you know a deer HAD BEEN THERE...and not long ago...and thats about all a fresh turn can tell you...possibly size n sex of animal within reason,but not much else. scattered pooh is possibly deer poopin as it wanders along feeding,or just poopin and wandering..... it had to come from somewhere and go somewhere else. get wind direction and slowly stalk... keep area in mind for next time.

Noise doesn't seem to bother them within reason, sudden noise or sneaking slowly seems to really put then switch up em. I've been standing beside a track letting a tramping party go through and had a couple of deer cross in front of me not a minute after they've cleared. Deer are used to a level of human company it would seem. As far as that sign, keep moving into wind until a transition happens to a really nice sunny face or you hit a lot of sign etc etc without crashing into the targets obviously! It so much depends on the wind direction, numbers of animals the area holds and all of the other usual factors. Time on the feet...

& it also makes a difference on what to do depending on the deer species your hunting if you spooked a red they fuck off more often than not but a sika if it hasn't got your wind will sometimes lop back round to cut your wind to work out what was there & sometimes you get a chance to get a shot bear in mind tho I don't know how to tell how fresh the sign is is it 30 mins or is 4 hrs old in the bush when it doesn't get a lot sun it can look fresh for a longer time

Having eyes up more than down I find results in more deer seen and shot.

Thanks for all the help guys. Hope next time I can have a good idea of which direction the deer went, that time I really had no idea and gave up because of the noise and I could be going in a completely opposite direction. I didn't recall an obvious wind direction that day, it was relatively calm and quiet with a few light gusts now and then.

My methodology for now is to follow game trails and look for signs, work out the direction, avoid backwind and then walk as gently as possible and keep my eyes up for deer movement or sound. I am not sure if I can find fresh signs on my next trip, this was completely by luck or coincidence.

Give it the ol' taste test to work out what theyre eating n how fresh it was.....

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Originally Posted by tiroahunta

Give it the ol' taste test to work out what theyre eating n how fresh it was.....

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Are you for real? I am not that desperate yet...

If a deer barks at you, it may hang around for a while because it has seen or heard you and is unsure if you are a threat. If it smells you it will usually leave the area immediately without barking.
I have had some quite long barking exchanges with deer, me barking back at them seems to confuse them into thinking they have been spooked by another deer. But I've never managed to shoot one that has barked at me.

Fresh sign means you are in the right place. With a bit of practice you will figure out where they bed, where the feed and the trails they use to get between the two areas. Hinds have smaller home boundaries, up to a few kms, whereas stags have a huge domain and when yet rut they go for mike upon mile. Research what they feed on and then apply that to the forest you hunt. Satellite imagery may help you identify larger stands of trees that hold feed, and open river beds for winter. Broad leaf and other trees that have leaves that deer like to eat but are too high to reach once the understory has been browsed are a good place to target on a windy day. Animals are basic in the sense that if they aren’t rooting or running for their lives, the only important thing to them is food

When it's dry and noisy and you can't keep it quiet - move like a deer, which is stopping and starting in a random fashion - always keeping your face into the wind while using your eyes and ears. I bumped into a lot of deer while possum trapping - and that's about how I was moving ............ stopping, starting, resetting baits etc. with no real attempt at keeping quiet.
I also walked through a mob of pigs foraging in fern, with a couple jumping sideways before continuing to root. They knew I was there, just didn't know what I was .............. still working that one out

Actually - that's about how I do it all the time.

Good question mate. I would typically slow right down and stalk in the most likely direction of travel unless that's with the wind up my arse. If the trail dries up I'd search around for areas of decent feed, a water source or bedding spots etc. and add it to my mental inventory of spots to try and catch one early morning, midday or late in the day on their way through.

Originally Posted by hunt08

bear in mind tho I don't know how to tell how fresh the sign is is it 30 mins or is 4 hrs old in the bush when it doesn't get a lot sun it can look fresh for a longer time

if you hear it hitting the ground like a drum solo from mick fleetwood..........its relatively fresh........... and close

Originally Posted by Alex_Z

I was trying my luck the other day in the forest and bumped into fresh deer poop. This was my first encounter of fresh deer signs and I was so excited. I then tried to look for footprints to see which direction the deer went. From the one print I was able to see I followed the trail which then lead to 3 different trails/directions. The bush was thick and dry so with every step I take I made a lot of noise. All 3 trails went to dead end or to an even thicker bush. Am I doing the right thing? or should I just waited at the spot? I did waited for about 15 min but I can only see about 15m ahead of me. What should I have done instead?

Cheers

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well you got some replys - some funny- some good advice - taste test now who would fall for that ??? - feed feed feed - learn your natives - deer shit simply means deer been there -why is more important - was it travelling to a feed area - summer likely good feed lower down clearings creek edges grass grass grass - winter no- to cold lower for growth so deer will wander looking for anything palatable - summer they will camp up high up -winter likely to live up higher to avoid cold valley bottom - -they need to sit and chew their cud so they will find a spot in the sun with security - now looking at your photos north island beech ridge and why is there a lot of undergrowth - because nearly all of it is not deer feed -they will pass thru that area to get up to a suitable bedding site -get up high and then slowly stalk down -I would bet if you went into the guts and have a look you may find better feed areas --on the ridges they look for windfall leaves and small regrowth - hard to hunt when feeding like that as they will travel -when they leave a bedding area they will start looking for food and browse as they go -find where they are going -this time of year I bet down to find good feed areas - learn mahoe, pate, karamu, five finger , fushia , this is not a full list but an easy way to see if its palatable try snapping leaves - all of these are soft snap easy and none grow more that about say 6-8 metres - now that twisted coprosma pictured low down in your photo try snapping that -yup bloody stringy tough not nice- there are always exceptions - a lot of places I hunt there are a lot of grass clearings - if left undisturbed and all that good grass they wont move very far -the bedding areas could be only 100-200 metres away and regularly used - but some north island bush it could be 1000 meters up and not always same each day - this has been a bit of a rambling reply but what I will do next few days as I am of wet days I will try to find ex Forest Service or DOC publications on deer palatable species -Forest Service especially did a lot of work on deer in sixties and seventy's a lot in Kaimanawas and Te Urewera - see what I can find - now you find a book on NZ natives start swatting time well spent